Chinese manufacturer Beijing Auto International Corporation (BAIC) is said to be targeting Malaysia as a hub in producing electric vehicles for the South East Asian region, according to a Bernama report.
The national news agency stated that BAIC has signed a joint venture agreement with partner Amber Dual Sdn Bhd at its Beijing plant yesterday. Production will reportedly start in July next year at a manufacturing plant to be built in Gurun, Kedah (which is also home to Naza’s plant).
A quick check with SSM at publication time reveals Amber Dual Sdn Bhd was registered in August 2014 and has two director-shareholders – Lina Faridah binti Herman and Muhamad Syariyal bin Herman who each hold 50% of the company.
“Kedah has a fast-growing automotive industry and constantly updating its technology,” said Kedah chief minister Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir, who was present at the signing. “Now with the presence of BAIC, it will further boost the state’s automotive industry.”
Mukhriz added that Amber Dual could be poised to penetrate the ASEAN market – which has a population of 550 million people – with BAIC’s corporation. “With the plant in Gurun, it will contribute to the growth of Kedah’s economy,” he said. “As electric vehicles are the latest technology, we expect that there will be suppliers who will enter the electric vehicle business.”
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Side profile looks a lot like the Merc B class
You sure Proton happy about it? Dr M merajuk nanti
They actually have JV and indeed that car is a B Class
This cannot work la. After 1 year BAIC sue close shop. Now they don’t know but when they start work with our locals, they will get shocked.
Our locals don’t like to work hard. All suka tidur, lepak, makan kuih lapis dan minum the Tarik 8 times a day in office, kongkek in the bilik stor, rokok every other 10 minutes.
The BAIC guys will get shocked. Our factory workers all think about kahwin empat, lazy to the core. Sure the close shop and run away. Beijing people very disciplined and hard working la
u sir… is a child..
once u joined the working community.. ney.. international working community.. u will know how hard it is to take care of mainland people is…
unless u are foxconn then u can work them to death..
Tis guy must be from tibet wit words of cibet. Any mainland auto brand is just useless except mat saleh brand under their control.
That’s because it’s a copy of it, lol. Saw a few of them in Beijing a few months ago. They look almost identical. Had to do a double-take the first time I saw one. Some of them even swapped out the original grill for a Mercedes one.
they are not copy..they are from JV between Daimler AG n BAIC Group
look china company even go thai to built EV car…investment go thailand..boleh go down
mukhriz is obsessed with cars , like his old man…
I dun mind if BAIC is going to use Tesla’s patents and produce exciting electric cars….
Tesla model 3 , a heavily toned down tesla model , with 200 miles ( 321km ) range is expected to be unveiled next year with price around 30,000usd….
I can do without the insane speed and power hungry lcd screen,
I’d just want a cheap to run , quiet and practical EV to live with…
After SAIC JV news, we have BAIC JV to Malaysia that the 3rd China auto company investment in Malaysia.
Understand that BAIC want to lead the EV market share for South East Asian EV hub (FYI Thais/Indo want be king of EV also), a high ambition and that the spirit if BAIC want to rock the with big boys (Japanese and Korean) and our local girls.
EV will spin off new suppliers chain in this country, and growth will be expected. BAIC robotic technology will be used to automate work for productivity and efficiency.
BAIC EV price listed as RM143,000 in China, I hope you can make affordable with ready build EV infrastructure. Below RM100,000 perhaps and start production.. kuaidian.
Actually, BAIC is not the 3rd China auto company to set up a CKD plant in Malaysia.
Chery was one of the earliest if not the first Chinese manufacturer to express interest here as early as the early 2000s. I would say that this is the ‘first wave’ of Chinese cars in Malaysia. Chery made a deal with Johor Bahru-based Oriental Assemblers (OASB) to assemble a few Chinese cars, including the quite successful Eastar MPV, the Tiggo SUV, QQ A-segment car and a few more. Also, I would count the Naza Sutera / Forza as a ‘first wave’ Chinese car since it is based on the Hafei Lobo.
The ‘second wave’ of Chinese cars came in the form of cheap commercial vans like the Jinbei. The Jinbei Haise (based on the Toyota HiAce) has been assembled at Inokom’s Kulim plant since 2008 or 2009 (not so sure of the exact year), and it became a big hit among businesses who needed a large minivan but couldn’t afford the expensive Japanese vans like the HiAce and Urvan. Following the success of the Jinbei van, many other Malaysian companies started assembling other Chinese vans like the King Long (Berjaya Joy Long and Sendok), Foton View (Inokom) and more.
The ‘third wave’ would refer to the Chinese commercial trucks, big rigs and other goods vehicles. They include ZNA, CAMC, Youngman, DFSK / Dong Feng, BeiBen, JAC, BAW, Foday and many more. Together, all these Malaysian-assembled Chinese commercial vehicles have eaten into the market share of the big Japanese players like Hino, Isuzu, Mitsubishi Fuso, UD Trucks and also Swedish Scania.
The ‘fourth wave’ would be the new Chinese passenger cars like Great Wall, SAIC-MG and now BAIC which arrived much later than Chery.
Anyway, most Malaysians will still laugh at all these Chinese cars and commercial vehicles, but we won’t be for long. When the first Hyundai and Kia cars came here, people were laughing too, but these days only Sam Loo is laughing and the vast majority of us aren’t. Will the same thing happen to the Chinese car companies ? I definitely think so, it’s only a matter of time. It’s good that you and I both welcome the investments from China’s car companies to Malaysia (instead of laughing it off like most), we both know that one day, these Chinese car companies will help lift our economy and provide more jobs for the next generation of Malaysians. I wish BAIC all the best.
Why do Chinese cars have freakishly small tyres?
Another effort to crowd the brands available here and probably another pill to kill malaysian brands! Peace.